Based in Yunnan Province, home to a rich diversity of minority communities and traditions, this program examines the social, environmental, economic, and cultural factors shaping Yunnan’s and China’s future. Students gain a deep understanding of China’s rich multicultural history and broadened perspectives on the major issues and challenges confronting China today. In addition, students can rapidly advance their Chinese through the program's intensive language component, which yields six academic credits.

Major topics of study include:

The role of traditional Chinese cultures and belief systems in contemporary life

Having one-on-one tutoring with my teachers allowed me to learn more Chinese in a month than I learned in the two years I took Chinese before attending SIT. The language pledge pushed me and inspired me to be more confident by forcing me to step out of my comfort zone and practice my Chinese with locals. While the language pledge was one of the most challenging months of my life, it is what I will remember and treasure most about my experience in Kunming.

Caroline Marso, Occidental College

Students on the China: Language, Cultures, and Ethnic Minorities program explore the complexity of China's social groups and develop a deeper understanding of the key social, historical, and cultural issues at work in minority communities.

Highlights include:

Initial program orientation in Kunming and the traditional town of Tonghai

Living alongside Chinese students at Yunnan Nationalities University

Daily taiji exercise

Small group intensive language study

Excursions throughout Yunnan Province and to Beijing

The Yunnan Exploration Project

Homestay in Kunming

Minority areas field excursion to Dali, Lijiang, and Shangri-La, with a rural homestay in the Bai minority village of Shaxi

The Independent Study Project (ISP) or continued Chinese language study in lieu of the ISP

Final evaluation at the Stone Forest and Jiuxiang Cave area

Each program component exposes students to the complex and varied challenges and opportunities faced by China’s ethnic minority groups. Students engage with a broad array of knowledge centers, and lecturers are drawn from a wide variety of local institutions and organizations.

Institutions we work with include:

Yunnan Nationalities University

Yunnan University

Yunnan Normal University

Yunnan Social Science Academy

Yunnan Art Institute

The Nature Conservancy

Family Health International

Kunming Medical College

Yunnan Traditional Medicine Hospital

The Lijiang Dongba Cultural Research Institute

Shaxi Rehabilitation Project

Shangri-La Association of Tibetan Culture Preservation

Beijing University

Qinghua University

Central Nationalities University

Kunming

The program is based in Kunming — Yunnan Province’s largest city and political, economic, and cultural center — and includes periods where students live on the campus of Yunnan Nationalities University and in a two-week homestay with families in the city.

Students attend lectures by local professors and experts in Kunming and during educational site visits to diverse locales. These lectures and excursions help students deepen their understanding of China's varied cultures and ethnic minorities.

Through intensive language instruction and daily interactions with their host families, students refine their communications skills while becoming acclimated to the local culture. This period provides an introduction to the relevant topical issues China faces today, information students later build upon during their educational excursions and Independent Study Project.

Chinese Language Study

While in Kunming, students undertake 90 class hours of intensive Chinese language instruction. Students at all skill levels receive training in reading, writing, listening, and speaking Chinese.

Through a combination of traditional classroom learning, cultural immersion on campus, and the practical application of language skills in homestays, during excursions, and throughout the Independent Study Project, students make tremendous progress in their Chinese language skills over the course of the semester.

The language program is distinguished by its excellent teacher-to-student ratio; in addition, SIT students are partnered with Chinese university students so they can practice Chinese with native speakers and apply what they learn in the classroom to the informal conditions of everyday life.

Students wishing to focus on language acquisition specifically may, in lieu of an Independent Study Project, pursue an additional 60 hours of intensive language instruction.

Chinese Culture and Ethnic Minorities Seminar

This seminar includes three sections: Chinese history and religions, China’s social issues and arts and humanities, and China’s minority issues. The unique minority issues component of the seminar — including excursions, visits, and exchanges with ethnic minority groups — distinguishes this study abroad program from any other in China. This interdisciplinary seminar explores the relationship between China’s central government and the ethnically diverse minority populations of Yunnan. The interactions inherent in the relationship between China’s “peripheral peoples” and an arguably constructed dominant “Han” culture form a foundation upon which questions of autonomy and identity are brought to life in Yunnan and its environs.

Field Methods and Ethics Seminar

During this phase of the program, students participate in educational excursions throughout Yunnan Province. As Yunnan increasingly becomes a major focus of both domestic and foreign tourism, students witness the region's struggle to achieve a balance between developed tourist areas, such as Dali and Lijiang, and more remote sites that retain a strong sense of cultural integrity. By living with local families in a rural farming village, students learn about the cultural traditions that define and sustain these diverse communities.

Excursions relate directly to the program's Field Methods and Ethics seminar, which instructs students on the techniques, methods, and ethics necessary for successful research. Throughout this section of the program, students develop ideas for their Independent Study Project (ISP) and learn to properly refine their research topics.

Independent Study Project

In the final month of the semester, students undertake either an Independent Study Project (ISP) or additional intensive language training.

The ISP provides students with an opportunity to critically examine a topic, community, or situation related to Chinese culture or ethnic minorities in China.

Previous ISP topics have included:

Social customs of minority groups

Evolution of the free-market system in ethnic minority regions

Philosophy and practice of taiji

Role of civil society in environmental management and conservation

Investigation of family and religious practices of the Hui

Naxi Dongba shaman practices

Structure of the extended family in the context of China's family planning system

Growth and inequality in modern China

Domestic tourism and its impact on Dali and Lijiang

Preservation and renewal of Tibetan arts

Healthcare challenges in China

Traditional Chinese painting, music, and medicine

Buddhist philosophy and practice

Alternatively, students may use this time to pursue one month of additional language study in lieu of the ISP. Students who pursue this option will spend this period participating in intensive and often one-on-one language instruction.

The interdisciplinary coursework in the China: Language, Cultures, and Ethnic Minorities program informs students on all aspects of life in China, including the environmental, health, and political spheres. Seminars conducted in both English and in translation include lectures by Chinese academics, researchers, development workers, and experts in the fields of history and religion, social issues, arts and the humanities, and minority issues. During the final month of the semester, students leverage their field study experience and research skills to complete their ISP.

Links to syllabi below are from current and forthcoming courses offered on this program. Because courses develop and change over time to take advantage of dynamic learning opportunities, actual course content will vary from term to term.

Field Methods and Ethics – syllabus
(ANTH 3500 / 3 credits / 45 class hours)
A course in the concepts of learning across cultures and from field experience. Introduction to the Independent Study Project. Material includes cross-cultural adaptation and skills building; project selection and refinement; appropriate methodologies; field study ethics and the World Learning/SIT Human Subjects Review Policy; developing contacts and finding resources; developing skills in observation and interviewing; gathering, organizing, and communicating data; and maintaining a work journal.

During the final month of the program, students may choose between the following:

Independent Study Project – syllabus
(ISPR 3000 / 4 credits / 120 class hours)
Conducted in Yunnan Province or in another approved location appropriate to the project. Sample topic areas: social customs of minority groups; evolution of the free-market system; philosophy and practice of taiji; investigation of family and religious practices of the Hui; Dongba shamans; textiles and handicrafts of the Naxi and the Miao; the structure of the extended family in the context of China’s family planning system; domestic tourism and its impact on Dali and Lijiang; the role of civil society in environmental management and conservation; growth and inequality in modern China; preservation and renewal of Tibetan arts; healthcare challenges in China; traditional Chinese painting, music, and medicine; Buddhist philosophy and practice.

Please note that in order to take advantage of dynamic learning opportunities, program excursions may occasionally vary.

Day Trips and Excursions

The China: Language, Cultures, and Ethnic Minorities program includes numerous educational day trips and extended excursions designed to complement and enhance classroom study and field-based activities. Day trips and excursion experiences are deepened through frequent discussion and reflection sessions led by students and the academic director.

Day trips near the city of Kunming may include:

A lecture on Islam in China held at a local mosque during Friday prayers

An introduction to Buddhism given in a Buddhist temple complex

An introduction to Christianity in China given at a small Miao (Hmong) Christian village

An introduction to and demonstration of the Beijing Opera at a local cultural institute

A visit to Kunming’s Flower and Bird Market

An introduction to and demonstration of traditional Chinese music and instruments at Yunnan Art Institute

A talk on China's ethnic minorities and China's minority policies at the Yunnan Nationalities Museum

During day trips and excursions, students may witness firsthand a Dongba shaman go into a trance; the agile and fluid motions of a Daoist master; the selfless dedication of workers at a Tibetan orphanage; an audience with a reincarnate Tibetan lama; and choral singing at a Christian Miao (Hmong) minority village.

Beijing Excursion: Minority Relations in Historical Perspective

Students travel across China to the capital city of Beijing, where Yunnan Province’s great ethnic diversity is placed in both historical and contemporary perspective. Through a combination of lectures, educational site visits, and a small group field study project, the striking ethnic and historical contrast between Beijing and Yunnan Province becomes clear.

In Beijing, students meet top Chinese academics and learn about Chinese identity and central government policies on minorities. Lecturers may include faculty drawn from Beijing’s best institutions of higher education, including Beijing University, Qinghua University, or China’s Central Nationalities University. Their lectures may focus on such diverse topics as:

Dual structures in China: city/country, Han/minorities

Government minority policies and relationships among China’s ethnic groups and nationalities

China's reproductive policy and its implementation

Ethnic identity in China

Furthering students’ understanding of ethnic minority relations over time, students visit historically significant sites such as the Great Wall, the Tibetan temple of Yonghegong, and the Forbidden City built by the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

The Beijing excursion deepens students’ understanding of remote Yunnan’s place in the modern Chinese nation and throughout imperial times, thus clarifying the distinct roles played throughout China’s history by the majority Han Chinese, as well as by northern ethnic minorities, and their political, military, and cultural contributions to modern China.

Corollary goals of the Beijing excursion include giving students a taste of China’s millennia-old urban sophistication, a clearer idea of the fast pace of modernization in China’s largest cities, and an appreciation of the high degree of China’s political centralization. To that end, in addition to group visits to UNESCO World Heritage Sites, students engage in a day-long group field study project in Beijing and also have time to discover on their own a plethora of Beijing’s great places, including the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, the Olympic Bird's Nest, fascinating markets, and many museums.

Minority Areas Field Excursion in Yunnan

The two-week minority areas excursion involves deep and varied experiential learning opportunities in the Yi and Hui Autonomous County of Weishan, the Bai areas of Dali, the Naxi ancient town of Lijiang, and the Tibetan areas of northwestern Yunnan. The itinerary changes each semester to include less-visited sites and rural areas vital to understanding modern China’s vast diversity and many inequalities. Students engage with local residents through visits to religious temples and monasteries, nature reserves, local markets, orphanages, schools, and factories. Immediately preceding the Independent Study Project (ISP) period, this excursion forms the core of the travel portion of the program and exposes students to myriad possibilities and contacts for their ISP.

Yunnan Exploration Project

The Yunnan Exploration Project, a self-designed independent study and travel period in Yunnan Province, allows students to build upon concepts learned in the thematic seminar and to utilize their Chinese language training. The project also develops students’ flexibility and confidence in their ability to conduct fieldwork in China and prepares them for logistical challenges they may encounter during future assignments outside the classroom, during their Independent Study Projects, and on future visits and study in China.

Students identify a site or sites they would like to explore, and, individually or in small groups, arrange their own travel to these destinations, where they explore the area and interact with residents over the course of approximately five days. On their return, each small group presents the skills and field study methods they used during the process of problem-solving, locating food and lodging during their travels, and, in individual papers, each student discusses incidents during the project that led to a greater understanding of some aspect of China’s dominant and ethnic minority cultures as well as their own culture.

Lu Yuan, PhD, Academic Director

Dr. Lu Yuan holds a PhD in international/China studies from the University of Technology, Sydney. After receiving her BA in Chinese literature and journalism from People's University, Beijing, Lu Yuan worked for seven years as a journalist with Xinhua, the official news agency of China, and as editor of the publication Chinese Journalist. From 1989–1990, Dr. Lu was a Parvin Fellow on a journalism training program sponsored by the East-West Center at the University of Hawai'i. She taught Chinese at Banaras Hindu University in north India as part of her MA degree work in Chinese language teaching from SIT Graduate Institute (formerly the School for International Training).

In addition to her visits to Tibet and the minority regions of Mongolia, Ningxia, and Yunnan, Lu Yuan spent three years in Kathmandu, Nepal, while her husband, Sam, co-directed the SIT Nepal program.

As academic director, Lu Yuan has overseen the entire SIT China program since its inception in the fall of 1994. In addition to giving lectures, advising students, and coordinating academic seminars, Dr. Lu also plans the program's educational excursions and works to ensure that students' academic needs are fully met. Lu Yuan has also served as the academic director for the summer Community Health and Traditional Chinese Medicine program since 2004.

Mr. Zhao Jie, Language Instructor and Program Assistant

Born in Shanghai and raised in Kunming, Zhao Jie received a Bachelor of Science degree from Yunnan University in 2003 and a Master of Science from Yunnan University in 2006. Fluent in both Chinese and English, Zhao Jie has a particular interest in paleontology and has conducted research and published extensively in this field. He has been in charge of international affairs on projects with both the University of Leicester (UK) and the Natural History Museum of Sweden. He has been teaching at Yunnan Normal University and Yunnan Nationalities University as a Chinese language teacher since 2001 and has worked as a language teacher and program assistant for the SIT China/Yunnan program since 2002.

Ms. Luo Xiaolei, Language Program Coordinator

Born and raised in Kunming, Luo Xiaolei received a bachelor’s degree in English from Yunnan University in 1989. She worked as office staff and as a translator for the Foreign Affairs Office of Yunnan University as well as for companies in Zhuhai and Hong Kong from 1989 to 1997. She has been teaching Chinese to foreigners at Yunnan University, Yunnan Normal University, and Yunnan Nationalities University since 2002 and has been teaching SIT students since 2003. Ms. Luo has served as an SIT language program coordinator since the fall of 2007.

Ms. Zhou Yan, Student Affairs Coordinator

Ms. Zhou Yan, of Yi nationality, was born in Yun County, Yunnan Province, a remote minority area. Ms. Zhou obtained a bachelor’s degree in English from the Xian Foreign Languages Institute, one of the most well-known schools in China, in 2008. She returned to her home province and joined SIT’s staff following graduation. She has served as student affairs coordinator with the SIT program in China since the spring of 2008.

John F. Thorne, PhD, Academic Advisor

John received a BA in international studies (concentration: Asia) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1968. He was an MPhil candidate in social anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, 1976–78. He received his PhD in social/cultural anthropology from the University of Hong Kong in 1997. John has edited numerous academic books, articles, and research papers, chiefly in social sciences, as well as several film scripts and two novels. He has taught English at the University of District of Columbia and the Hong Kong Institute of Language and Communication and anthropology/Asian studies at the University of Hong Kong. John has been serving as the academic advisor for the SIT Study Abroad program in Yunnan since November 2011.

Dr. Duo Lin, HIV/AIDS Expert

Duo Lin has earned medical degrees in Kunming and London. Since 2002, he has been involved with research, public health, and health education related to HIV/AIDS, intravenous drug use, and sexual transmission of disease in Yunnan, including among ethnic minorities, and in those areas bordering Southeast Asian countries. He is currently the manager of the Yunnan Province HIV/AIDS Asia Regional Project, sponsored by the Australian government and has participated in and managed other local and regional projects concerning the spread and control of HIV/AIDS. He has contributed to numerous publications and has served as a consultant and participant in national and international conferences on the subject. Since 2006, Duo Lin has been a senior lecturer and ISP advisor for the SIT China semester program and a senior lecturer with the SIT China summer program.

Associate Professor Xiong Bin, Lecturer on Regional Economics and Business

Xiong Bin has degrees in international business and management, as well as in English, from universities in Yunnan and Thailand, and she has lectured at universities and worked in private businesses in both China and Thailand. She is currently an associate professor of management and economics at the Kunming University of Science and Technology. Her specialty is in regional economic development and international business and management. Her participation in numerous international collaborative research projects and conferences concerning the important and rapid economic development involving China’s Yunnan Province and the adjoining Southeast Asian countries of the Greater Mekong sub-region has led to numerous published articles and papers, and she has won awards for the quality of her teaching. Xiong Bin has been a senior lecturer and ISP advisor for the SIT China semester program since 2002.

Professor Shen Haimei, Anthropologist

Dr. Shen Haimei is a professor of anthropology at the Yunnan Provincial Ethnology Research Institute, Yunnan Nationalities University. Her research interests include Yunnan local history, women/gender studies and ethnicity in southwest China, HIV/AIDS and public health, and the trafficking of women and transnational Asian female immigrants in China. Her two authored books, her numerous articles in Chinese and English, and her editorial works and translations have embodied these interests and have become important resources for the anthropological and historical understanding of Yunnan’s unique peoples, as has been indicated by the various fellowships she has held at universities in the US, the UK, and Singapore. Professor Shen Haimei has been a senior lecturer and ISP advisor with the SIT China semester program since 2002.

Professor Yang Hui, Anthropologist

Yang Hui received her education in anthropology and political science in China and the United States. She is currently a professor with and the director of the Institute of Anthropology and Ethnology at Yunnan University. She has taught courses in sociocultural anthropology at undergraduate and graduate levels and has been a visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley and a visiting professor in Hong Kong. Her numerous published articles, edited works, translations, and ethnographic documentary films have focused on Yunnan and Yunnan’s minorities in particular, and she remains an important contributor and authority in these fields, as well as in the fields of tourism in ethnic minority areas and economic development among transnational minority groups in Yunnan and Southeast Asia. Professor Yang Hui has been a senior lecturer and ISP advisor for the SIT China semester program since 1998.

Professor Yang Fuquan

Professor Yang is a member of the Naxi ethnic nationality. He holds a PhD in Chinese ethnic history and culture and is a professor with and vice president of the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences in Kunming, as well as the director of the Local Historical Studies Department of Yunnan Province. He is the author of 28 academic books and more than 150 articles on topics concerning identity and relationships between traditional knowledge systems and biodiversity conservation, cultural conflict, and cultural change among the ethnic peoples of Yunnan, especially concerning the Naxi ethnic group. He has given lectures and presentations in Germany, the United States, Switzerland, Sweden, Canada, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, and elsewhere. He has acted as a leader and coordinator of several international research projects focused on traditional resource management, indigenous knowledge systems, cultural conservation, biodiversity protection, and ecotourism issues in the ethnic minority areas of Yunnan. Professor Yang Fuquan has been a senior lecturer and ISP advisor with the SIT China semester program since 1999.

The China: Language, Cultures, and Ethnic Minorities program includes two different homestays, allowing students to experience daily Chinese life in both urban and rural settings. Other accommodations during the program include hostels, educational institutions, or small hotels.

Kunming Homestay

Students spend two weeks with families in urban Kunming, exchanging cultural information and insights and interests. Through this experience, students gain a far deeper understanding of China's increasingly complex and economically stratified society. When possible, students are placed in homes with families that share common professions and interests related to a student's Independent Study Project (ISP) topic. In many cases, the homestay family becomes an important contact for students as they explore the role of ethnic minority cultures for their ISP.

Shaxi Rural Homestay

In the rural Bai nationality farming community of Shaxi, students experience a more traditional way of life. Students may help their host families with daily chores, including farming, milking, and producing goods to be sold at the local weekly market. Students gain firsthand knowledge of minority cultures and witness the profound changes occurring as a result of increased development and tourism. This homestay lasts for 4 to 5 days.

All educational excursions to locations such as Dali and Lijiang, Tibetan areas of Zhongdian and other rural locations, Beijing, and the Great Wall, including all related travel costs

Independent Study Project (including a stipend for accommodation and food)

Intensive language instruction in Chinese

Language textbooks and reading materials for the academic seminars

Health insurance throughout the entire program period

Local transportation

Room & Board:$3,580

The room and board fee covers the following program components:

All accommodations during the entire program period. This includes during orientation, time in the program base (Kunming), on all excursions, during the Independent Study Project, and during the final evaluation period. Accommodation is covered either by SIT Study Abroad directly, through a stipend provided to each student, or through the homestay.

All homestays (two weeks in Kunming and several days in the rural Bai community of Shaxi)

All meals for the entire program period. Meals are covered either by SIT Study Abroad directly, through a stipend provided to each student, or through the homestay.

Estimated Additional Costs:

International Airfare to Program Launch Site

International airline pricing can vary greatly due to the volatility of airline industry pricing, flight availability, and specific flexibility/restrictions on the type of ticket purchased. Students may choose to take advantage of frequent flyer or other airline awards available to them, which could significantly lower their travel costs.

Visa Expenses: $130

Immunizations: Varies

Books & Supplies: Not yet available.

International Phone: Each student must have a phone in each country. Cost varies according to personal preferences, phone plans, data plans, etc.

Discretionary Expenses

Personal expenses during the program vary based on individual spending habits and budgets. While all meals and accommodations are covered in the room and board fee, incidentals and personal transportation costs differ depending on the non-program-related interests and pursuits of each student. To learn more about personal budgeting, we recommend speaking with alumni who participated in a program in your region. See a full list of our alumni contacts. Please note that free time to pursue non-program-related activities is limited.

Please Note: Fees and additional expenses are based on all known circumstances at the time of calculation. Due to the unique nature of our programs and the economics of host countries, SIT reserves the right to change its fees or additional expenses without notice.

SIT was founded as the School for International Training and has been known as SIT Study Abroad and SIT Graduate Institute since 2007. SIT is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. (NEASC) through its Commission on Institutions of Higher Education